NCAT Changes the Rules for Strata Disputes

NCAT Changes the Rules for Strata Disputes

NCAT has recently changed the rules that apply to expert evidence in most strata cases.

These changes relax the rules relating to expert evidence and make it easier for opinions to be given by experts in a quicker and cheaper way.

Previously, if a person such as a building consultant, engineer or valuer, wanted to give expert evidence in a strata dispute in NCAT, they had to comply with certain rules before their evidence would be accepted.

These included rules that required the person to follow an Expert Witness Code of Conduct to ensure that they act as an independent expert and not as the “hired gun” of one of the parties.

Often, an expert’s report would be rejected by NCAT if those rules were not followed.

However, those rules no longer apply to most strata disputes. This means that experts will now be able to give evidence in most strata cases in NCAT without having to comply with every aspect of the Expert Witness Code of Conduct.

This is intended to ensure that opinions for strata disputes, given by experts, are able to be obtained in an easier and cheaper way although those opinions will still need to be soundly based and reliable.